Hopeful signs for Maple Leafs, Wild
Last Updated: Tuesday, November 10, 2009 | 11:29 AM ET
By Chris Iorfida, CBC Sports
Phil Kessel has provided a spark for Toronto up front in his first three games. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)The Toronto Maple Leafs can move up another spot on Tuesday night in their long climb toward respectability and, they hope, a playoff spot.
Toronto faces the visiting Minnesota Wild at the Air Canada Centre in a rare meeting between the two clubs.
The Maple Leafs (3-7-5) can move past Florida into 13th place in the Eastern Conference with at least a point. It's not much, but they were 15th and dead last before passing the floundering Carolina Hurricanes last week.
The clubs have met just three times since the 2005 lockout. The Wild drubbed the Maple Leafs 6-1 on Jan. 27, one of the few games of the Justin Pogge era in Toronto.
Pogge was jettisoned in the off-season, and the Leafs addressed their goaltending by signing Jonas Gustavsson.
All signs point to the Swedish rookie starting a third game in four nights. He stopped 69 of 72 shots in weekend victories over Carolina and the Detroit Red Wings.
"Everybody on the team wants to win and wants to be successful," said Gustavsson. "We want the fans to be happy. When we started playing better, everybody's going to be happy. If we can just continue like this, it's going to be a fun season."
He has yet to lose in regulation this season (3-0-3), although he tied an NHL record early in his career with three consecutive overtime defeats.
Wild's win against Dallas 'a step in the right direction': Belanger
The Leafs have gained a point in seven straight games since losing 3-1 in Vancouver on Oct. 24.
Phil Kessel scored his first goal in a Toronto uniform in the 5-1 win over the Red Wings while adding an assist.
He has one goal and two assists in three games, and his presence is clearly helping other forwards relax in the offensive zone.
On the back end, Jeff Finger could be back in the defence picture for a while after stringing together solid efforts against the Hurricanes and Wings, scoring and adding an assist against Detroit.
Finger, who earns $3.5 million US this season, had been on the sideline since a pair of poor outings against the New York Rangers in mid-October.
Minnesota (6-10) are showing signs of life as they begin a four-game road trip.
The Wild have won three of the last four after nipping Dallas 3-2 on Saturday. Defenceman Marek Zedlicky had the winning goal and an assist, Cal Clutterbuck scored short handed, and captain Mikko Koivu also found the mark.
Goalie Niklas Backstrom made 19 saves for the win.
"We played a good 60 minutes together," centre Eric Belanger said. "We stayed composed and did a lot of good things. It's a step in the right direction."
While the mood is up after a poor start, the Wild's margin of error has been slim. All six of the club's victories have come by one goal.
Minnesota struggles badly when not on special teams. Their power play is 18th, and their penalty killing unit is fourth.
Minnesota has allowed 13 more even-strength goals than they've totalled and rank just just 29th in the NHL in goals scored.
Veteran forward Petr Sykora, who hasn't been much of a factor this season, is out of the lineup after suffering a concussion in the Stars game.
Toronto returns for a tough assignment on the weekend. They play in Chicago on Friday, immediately flying back for a home game on Hockey Night in Canada against Calgary on Saturday (CBC, CBCSports.ca, 7 p.m. ET).
With files from The Associated Press
